Cheap Eats 2008It’s Cheap Eats time here at ‘New York,’ and our food editors have compiled a list of affordable, delicious restaurants at great risk to their body mass indexes.
This Theater Serves Pork, Not PopcornWarm weather is running out for Harry’s Water Taxi Beach, the aquatic venue that was the site of Meatopia and any number of other summer frolics. But the place has one more big event left in it: this weekend’s barbecue movie series, the last segment of the first annual NYC Food Film Festival. Starting tonight and running through Saturday, catch titles like the much buzzed-about (in BBQ circles, anyway) Barbecue: a Texas Love Story or Dial S for Sausage. All will be accompanied by real barbecue, prepared by Meatopia veterans Scotty Smith of RUB and Robby Richter of Big Island Barbecue. “These are great films which happen to be about barbecue,” says documentarian George Motz, one of the festival’s organizers. “The food, though, will make it a multisensory experience.” After the jump, catch a sneak preview of Barbecue: a Texas Love Story.
Foodievents
Meatopia IV: A Visual Feast
Last night’s Meatopia was everything we could have dreamed of and more: an unforgettable spectacle of infanticide with world-class chefs, world-class gluttons, and the beauty of the Water Taxi Beach as a setting for both. Here’s some hint of its wonders, captured by society photographer Melissa Hom.
Foodievents
Win Tickets to Meatopia IV!Truman Capote’s “Black and White” ball. Diddy’s “White Party” in St. Tropez. And “Meatopia IV: Slaughter of the Innocents.” The all-time must-attend events are few and far between, and we only get to go the latter because we happen to be throwing it. And what a party it will be: six great chefs will cook five kinds of baby animal on the banks of the East River while beer flows freely. Invitations are few, but we are making four available to the Grub Street reader with the best concept for Meatopia V. We already have a pretty good one in mind, and last year’s, “Decklefest,” is already taken. But send in your concept — along with what meats it entails — and you might just find yourself hobnobbing with the meat elite next Tuesday. Send your menus to grubstreet@nymag.com.
Meatopia IV Invitation [PDF]
Neighborhood Watch
Doug E. Fresh Bringing Boxes of Chicken and Waffles to HarlemHarlem: Doug E. Fresh’s chicken-and-waffles restaurant is opening on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard at 132nd Street. [Uptown Flavor]
Long Island City: It was an orgy of animal fats at Saturday’s burger bash at Water Taxi Beach, as this slideshow dramatically demonstrates. [Off the Broiler]
Park Slope: Hotel Le Bleu (and its rooftop restaurant, Vue) has pushed back its opening to August 13. [NewYorkology]
Upper West Side: Grom has been stealing Beard Papa’s thunder, but the latter’s mango ice shower is just as refreshing as any gelato. And cheaper. [Ed Levine Eats]
West Village: Jody Williams’s new wine bar, Gottino, is coming along nicely on Greenwich Avenue. [Eater]
Williamsburg: The grubby Chinese place on Bedford Avenue by North 7th Street is turning Japanese. [Lost City]
NewsFeed
Harry Hawk Seeks to Schnäck-ize the Brooklyn Bridge Park BeachHarry Hawk, having created a burger and hot-dog haven at Harry’s at Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, is attempting to re-create his magic in Brooklyn Heights. But it hasn’t quite happened yet. Brooklyn Bridge Park Beach, home of the Floating Pool at Pier 5, is currently being serviced by Hawk with Stahl-Meyer hot dogs and draft Abita root beer, but Hawk confides to us that he sees his concession “expanding in a Schnäck-like direction.”
Neighborhood Watch
Hearth Spawns a Wine Bar in the East VillageEast Village: It looks like Hearth may spawn a wine bar. [Eater] A date with Momofuku’s David Chang is only worth $1000 at auction (Jean-Georges Vongerichten brought in $6100) but that’s not too bad for a night at a dive bar. [Snack]
Greenwich Village: NYU is hosting a panel on Building a Food Professional Pedigree from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Thursday, with speakers including Michael Lomanaco and Florence Fabricant. [NYU]
Long Island City: The Food Film Festival at Water Taxi Beach kicks off tomorrow. [The Food Section]
Midtown West: Brasserie 8 1/2 will join the dessert-bar fray starting tonight by repackaging its lounge as After 8.5, and serving desserts after 8:30 p.m. — get it? [NYT]
Times Square: Insieme is starting weekday lunch service between noon and 2 p.m. [NYS]
Tribeca: Fresh Pie has been taken over by Ruben’s Empanadas at 149 Church Street. [Grub Street]
Neighborhood Watch
Midwood Facing a Second DiFara Crisis As Health Department RevisitsEast Village: Plans for the Bowery Hotel’s subterranean Japanese restaurant get scrapped for a spa. [Down by the Hipster] Drown your sorrows (or pickup takeout sushi) and head to Astor Wines for over 50 varieties of shochu, the Japanese alcohol that “goes down easy.” [Gridskipper]
Fort Greene: The first South African restaurant in the United States, Madiba, has just been closed by the Department of Health. [VV]
Long Island City: Junior’s Cheesecake and Harry’s Water Taxi Beach are among the participants in tomorrow night’s Taste of LIC to support the Chocolate Factory’s arts programs. [The Chocolate Factory]
Midtown West: Starwood’s new (opening in 2010) green hotel overlooking Bryant Park will feature restaurants by Stephen Hanson. [Gothamist]
Midwood: DiFara closed by the Department of Health for the second time since March. Dom, please just wear the hat. [Eater]
NewsFeed
Enjoy the Horrors of Vegas Buffets at Water Taxi BeachThere are a lot of reasons to go to the first New York City Food Film Festival, but the chance to watch Buffet — All You Can Eat Las Vegas at the Water Taxi Beach is for us chief among them. Judging from its trailer, above, we think the movie looks like a snarky study of the capital city of American gluttony, complete with shots of waving flags on huge Diamondvision screens and cutaways to pigs feeding at a trough. Given that the festival will be held at one of the most unmistakably New York settings, directly across from midtown on the other side of the East River, and sure to be filled with supercilious foodies, there is bound to be a keen snob pleasure to be had. But the other movies in the festival promise more wholesome joys.
Neighborhood Watch
Water Taxi Beach Opening With Beer in Long Island CityDumbo: For a divier May 5 celebration than found in our classy Cinco de Mayo roundup, there’s always Pedro’s. [Dumbo NYC]
Clinton Hill: Pillow Cafe’s old space at 372 Myrtle Avenue will be a new restaurant. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Cobble Hill: K & Y Fruit & Vegetables coming to Court Street; neighbors more enthusiastic about the prospect of fresh produce than pondering the store’s unfortunate name. [Brooklyn Record]
East Village: Do not attempt to have sex in bathroom at Cheap Shots. It sounds like a handful of Viagra can’t overcome this smell. [Gawker]
Long Island City: Water Taxi Beach opens this weekend and will dish out beef dogs and beer, weather permitting, until Memorial Day kicks off the full arsenal of daiquiris. [Joey in Astoria]
Prospect-Lefferts-Gardens: Community Supported Agriculture wants you! Sign up for a share of Woodbridge Farm and pick up the produce at the Maple Street School. [Across the Park]
Soho: The Kitchen Club’s incessant reminders that a party could not keep its table after a certain hour symbolizes a despicable trend, which must be stopped. [Eater]
Back of the House
Baron of BBQ to Hold Court SaturdayPaul Kirk, Kansas City’s “Baron of Barbecue,” gave New York RUB, the city’s best BBQ joint. On Saturday, he’ll lead a master class on his art at the Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, covering the basics of cooking, fire management, sauce, rubs, spices, and even competition. The class is intended for professionals: The fee alone is 250 bucks, and that doesn’t include all the supplies you’ll need to bring, from cookers to fuel. (If you’re just looking to learn the basics, you can probably get away with buying the Baron’s book, available via his Website.)
Contact Matt Fisher or Robert Fernandez to enroll.
